


Dance With Us

by The Sign of Tea (NoPlastic)



Series: Tumblr ficlets - Johnlockary [5]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff and Angst, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 17:58:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5507366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoPlastic/pseuds/The%20Sign%20of%20Tea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At least one person had seen Sherlock leaving, and had decided to check up on him. Out of curiosity, perhaps.<br/>He flinched a little when he realized it was Mary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance With Us

After the day’s bright sunshine, the night was surprisingly cold. Party lights painted the garden outside the reception room a variety of surreal colors. The wedding and the best man’s duties were already a fading memory, left behind like a dream after waking up.

For a couple of seconds, the music sounded louder and clearer again, which meant that somebody had opened the door. So at least one person had seen Sherlock leaving, and had decided to check up on him. Out of curiosity, perhaps.

“Wait!”

He flinched a little when he realized it was Mary. The thought that his unsociable behavior was ruining her evening made him feel vaguely guilty. He’d done what he could to make her as happy as possible, and it had looked like the emotional parts of his speech and his violin playing had been a success.

He could hear her cursing repeatedly under her breath as she hurried after him in shoes that weren’t made for running on cobblestone. When he felt that she was right behind him, he whirled around, causing her to stop dead in her tracks.  
Mary’s expression was friendly and still cheerful, but there was a shadow of worry around her eyes. That was Sherlock’s fault. It was his weirdness that made her unhappy. She didn’t deserve this. He should have left earlier.

“You really like him a lot, don’t you?” Mary asked. 

She shivered visibly and crossed her arms against the cold. 

“Don’t you sometimes wish he hadn’t met me? Yes, you do. It would still be the two of you against the world, just you and John in 221b.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“You’re happy for us, but you’re not _happy.”_

She took a few steps towards him, so close that their height difference became obvious and she had to raise her chin to look up at him. In her eyes he could see no judgement, only questions and a sparkle of curiosity.

“You miss the good old times. You miss John.”

A bitter laugh escaped him, and he glanced away. Something about Mary always made him feel strange, as if there was more to her than he could see, as if she could see right through him.

“Good deduction,” he complimented her. “Yes, I miss the good old times. But John deserves more than just me.”

He tried to make it sound casual, like stating the obvious. Only an idiot would want to spend the rest of his life with his flatmate, right? Such a man had no place in this nice ordinary couple’s wedding, he would only destroy everything.

Walking away without another word seemed to be the best option, so he started to do just that. 

“Oh, you idiot!” Mary tutted. “You – both of you.”

Her heels clicked on the pavement as she struggled to keep up with Sherlock’s long strides, until she managed to get hold of his arm.

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said after she’d forced him to stop. “Perhaps John deserves more than just you.”

The firm grip of her hand turned into a gentle touch, almost comforting. It made him feel warmer inside, a heat that reached his face and made his cheeks turn red. He hoped she couldn’t see it. She smiled at him. 

“Perhaps he deserves us both.”

It took a little while for Sherlock to understand what she’d said, and a longer while to process the meaning.

“Come back inside,” she invited him before he could come up with a reply.

“No,” he snapped, much harsher than intended. Panicked and overwhelmed, he shook off her hand and stepped away. With a cold grin, he tried to cover up how he felt. All these _feelings_ that he didn’t want. “I’m going home. Your party is awful. Too much noise, too many people.”

He cringed and cursed himself silently for sounding like Mycroft.

“We can go up into our room where it’s quiet,” Mary suggested, and he only hoped she wasn’t going to beg him to stay. “Just the three of us. Nobody can see us. And you can dance with us both.”

The idea made Sherlock hesitate for a moment. He swallowed and did his best to recollect himself.

“Would you really do that?” he asked softly.

“Of course we would,” Mary answered.

Sherlock nodded, and finally allowed himself to smile back at her.

 

“Of course you would,” he whispered into the cold air when Mary arrived back at the door to the reception room. His trembling fingers barely managed to light his cigarette as he watched the door falling shut behind her.


End file.
